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Neighborhood Council Elections and Call for Reps

Neighborhood Council Elections and Call for Reps

In April the Emerson-Garfield Neighborhood Council (EGNC) will be holding elections for the following officer positions:

  • Chair
  • Vice-chair
  • Secretary
  • Treasurer

These positions are all currently occupied but should not go uncontested. If you are interested in running, please put your name forward at the next neighborhood council meeting on Wednesday, March 12. Keep in mind that you must be a voting member to throw your hat into the ring — which means you will need to have attended three EGNC meetings in the past six months.

Emerson-Garfield is also looking for representatives to become involved in groups that are important to the neighborhood. These include:

All of these volunteer groups generally involve a nominal time commitment of just one meeting per month. Ideally you would also attend the monthly neighborhood council meeting to keep EGNC members apprised of relevant issues and opportunities.

If you’d like to be the neighborhood rep for any of these groups (or co-rep; there’s no reason why two or three people couldn’t share a single responsibility), please speak up at the next neighborhood council meeting or get in touch beforehand. If you’re already involved in one of them and you happen to work or reside in E-G, let us know that too!

These unelected positions are just as essential as the elected officer positions. It’s important for Emerson-Garfield to have a voice as these groups develop citywide plans and policy for the future, and it’s equally important for E-G residents to be kept informed of how those plans and policies are taking shape over time.

Montgomery Ave Traffic-Circle Landscaping & MoU

Montgomery Ave Traffic-Circle Landscaping & MoU

The traffic circles (aka roundabouts) on Montgomery Ave that are slated to be installed this year between the 1100 and 1400 blocks of Montgomery Ave require a memorandum of understanding (MoU) if they are to be landscaped and not drab concrete slabs.

A memorandum of understanding is a non-legal document that lays out the terms of a common course of action. In this case, the parties involved are the City of Spokane and the residents and organizations on Montgomery Ave. The agreement is that the residents and organizations will maintain the landscaping (i.e., occasional weeding, watering, pruning.)

A Landscaped Roundabout
An example of a landscaped roundabout

As part of the MoU, the Montgomery Ave residents will be able to decide which plants, flowers and grasses are installed by the city in the course of landscaping.

Some of the ground cover options include wild ginger, Scotch heather, sunrose and sticky geranium. Native perennials include wildflowers such as common yarrow, aquilegia and coral bells. Ornamental grasses are also an option. See the slideshow below.

Download this PDF for a recap of images and suggestions of landscaping possibilities. The city asks to keep the following in mind when choosing:

  • Any treatment that is installed needs to be kept within 36″ so that it doesn’t obstruct the site
  • A mix of plants would be the best option to make the traffic circles esthetically pleasing all year
  • Plants chosen should be drought resistant to limit the water that is needed

As of this writing, Trinity Catholic School and three families have agreed to sign the MoU. We would like more to join them in this very minimal commitment of time and effort, as many hands make light work. If you live near the site and are interested in adding your name to the MoU, please get in touch.

It’s worth reiterating here that this is one of Spokane’s most forward-thinking residential traffic-calming initiatives, and it’s a compliment that Emerson-Garfield was chosen to be the neighborhood that will benefit.

Materials for the February 12 EGNC Meeting

Materials for the February 12 EGNC Meeting

We know the snow is knee deep in places, but there are 101 (count ’em) reasons to brave the winter weather and make it to the Emerson-Garfield Neighborhood Council meeting on Wednesday, February 12. It starts promptly at 7pm in the Corbin Senior Center (827 W Cleveland).

At this meeting the EGNC will be taking sidewalk and traffic-calming requests. This means that if you have sidewalk that is missing or in need of repair outside your home, business, church or other property, you should be there to mark the spot on a map and help rank these proposals in terms of priority before submitting them to the city.

There will also be guest speakers with useful and interesting information on a variety of topics, including pedestrian and traffic studies on N. Monroe, energy-efficient home improvement options, news and thanks from the West Central Community Center, and a proposed law enforcement partnership to reduce underage drinking.

Plus there’s the usual slew of announcements and updates, reports on the significant progress among the Neighborhood Planning effort and how that will make the leap into implementation, check-ins from the Spokane Police and COPS, and news on changes to Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) eligibility.

Download the February 12 meeting materials for approval here:

We look forward to seeing you there!

Submit Your Traffic-Calming and Sidewalk Requests

Submit Your Traffic-Calming and Sidewalk Requests

It’s time to make your annual neighborhood traffic-calming and sidewalk requests.

Here are the sort of problems you can address:

  • A stretch of sidewalk in Emerson-Garfield that is missing or in need of repair
  • An arterial or residential street in Emerson-Garfield where drivers speed, accidents occur frequently, and/or the safety of pedestrians is endangered.

To see the boundaries of Emerson-Garfield, check this handy map.

And here are the sort of solutions you can propose:

  • Curb bump-outs
  • Signage
  • Roundabouts/traffic circles
  • Chicanes
  • Improved visibility
  • Crosswalks
  • Private mini-copters to ferry you to/from the destination of your choosing

Once you submit these requests, they’ll be reviewed by the Emerson-Garfield Neighborhood Council (which you can be a part of if you’re not already), prioritized according to urgency, then passed on to the City of Spokane for analysis and implementation. Most, if not all of the money for these projects comes from sources such as Photo Red dollars and federal Community Development Block Grant funding.

The council welcomes any and all requests, but please be aware that at some point you might have to collect supporting signatures from some residents in the affected area, especially for traffic-calming projects. Though it might take an afternoon or two (less if other neighbors pitch in), signature-gathering is a straightforward and usually pleasant process. If that sounds daunting, the council is happy to assist with advice or even a bit of legwork.

It’s important to remember that your requests have real impact. Every year sidewalks are installed or replaced throughout the entire city as a direct result of these efforts, and Emerson-Garfield (specifically, Montgomery Ave between Monroe and NW Blvd) is the future site of an ambitious residential roundabout project thanks to resident-led traffic-calming requests.

Our deadline is March 7, so please send your requests ASAP. In fact, it’s best if we have  them in hand prior to our upcoming neighborhood council meeting on Wednesday, February 12. Submit them through our easy-to-use online contact form — just be sure to select “Traffic Calming/Sidewalks” from the drop-down menu.

Status on Traffic-Calming Applications

Status on Traffic-Calming Applications

First post of 2014, and we’ve got both good and bad news on previous traffic-calming applications made by the Emerson-Garfield Neighborhood Council.

Let’s start with the good, taken straight from the e-mail we just received from the city:

The Emerson Garfield Traffic Calming Application from 2012 for infill sidewalks on the East Side of Adams from Mansfield to Alleyway and on Madison between Mansfield and Alleyway have been chosen by the City Council to be implemented.

The project is being moved to the final design phase and then into implementation. The build year for the project will depend on the complexity of the project and the design needed; some projects fall into a two year cycle for design and build.

Just to reiterate, that’s a request from 2012. The images below give a rough idea where the sidewalks are to be installed.

And the bad:

The applications from 2013 were not chosen for implementation, the crosswalk at Jackson and Maple St. and the Signage at Cora and Euclid. The crosswalk at Jackson was not chosen due to its close proximity to a school crossing one block north of this location. The Signage at Cora and Euclid did not meet the signatures that were needed to move the project forward.

That crosswalk on Maple was requested on account of the busy intersection there, which sees a lot of foot traffic (in addition to automobile traffic) from Safeway. While it’s true that there are two pedestrian crossings a few blocks to the north and south, traffic of any kind naturally tends to follow the shortest and most direct route. There’s a case to be made either way. The signage was a good idea but, as the e-mail indicates, saw no follow-through.

If you have traffic-calming or sidewalk suggestions for application in 2014, please submit them to the EGNC for consideration. But in the case of traffic-calming, also be prepared to gather the necessary signatures.